Commentary: Walmart

1. Recently, Walmart employees have begun to go on strike across America. Cities such as Dallas, Seattle, Miami, Washington D.C., Sacramento and San Francisco have all seen workers go on strike. According to the employees, Walmart is guilty of trying to silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job.2. Last Friday in Los Angeles, 60 employees walked out on their job at Walmart. Maybe it’s justified by the workers’ unhappiness with conditions, but initiating a strike doesn’t exactly solve the problem and may even exacerbate things. I think that the employees are unethical for striking. We should all know how much we’re worth, and we shouldn’t assume that Walmart knows. Employees haven’t been effectively stating their needs as far as payment and conditions go before beginning to work for Walmart. Employees are paid to work and that’s it. If you are unsatisfied with your job at Walmart then you get a better job that you’re happy with. You don’t quit without notice and attempt to hinder the company’s business. This act alone is unethical because the company hasn’t forced you to do anything against your will. 3. Both the employer and the employee have the power to fix this problem. Communication is the key to accomplishing this. For instance, Walmart could implement a program for employees to talk about conditions and any improvements that they would like to see. This would allow the workers to feel that they were being heard and can actually contribute to the company. On the other hand, employees need to know exactly where they stand with their employer. If they have concerns or issues, they need to bring those up with their superiors in order to handle the matter. Strikes don’t solve problems, people do.